GSA’s Latest Blanket Purchase Agreement Benefits Climate Agency

This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken Friday, June 18, 2021, at 11 a.m. EDT, and provided by NOAA, shows a tropical weather system in the Gulf of Mexico.

This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken Friday, June 18, 2021, at 11 a.m. EDT, and provided by NOAA, shows a tropical weather system in the Gulf of Mexico. (NOAA via AP)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a new way to procure mission critical IT.

The General Services Administration announced a new multiple-award blanket purchase agreement, or BPA, available specifically for use by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The NOAA Mission IT Services BPA will allow the scientific agency to procure a variety of IT tools, including enterprise and cloud computing, application administration, cybersecurity and information assurance and other IT services.

The small business set-aside contract has a total potential value of $2.1 billion, with a five-year base and five-year option.

“NOAA’s missions are vitally dependent on IT services,” NOAA Chief Information Officer Zachary Goldstein said in a statement. “With the award of NMITS, NOAA can more rapidly access highly qualified private sector talent, a key to cost-effectively operating and modernizing our information management environment, and advancing our service to the American people.”

The contract will be administered jointly by NOAA Office of the CIO’s, NOAALink Program Office and NOAA’s Acquisition and Grants Office’s Corporate Services Acquisition Division. 

In a statement, GSA’s Information Technology Category Assistant Commissioner Laura Stanton said the BPA should allow NOAA to better focus on meeting mission needs and worry less about acquisitions.

“We pride ourselves on close agency partnerships like this, and we are thrilled to support NOAA with its complex IT needs,” Stanton said in a statement.